He set up the electric reel, plugging it into the socket below the gunwale, and let it fish independently.

Chu Mingcheng's boat had four electric reel sockets total, and he could also see a water hose near the gunwale. Each fishing station had a retractable hose, which he usually used to rinse and clean the deck.

He was now experiencing firsthand how aggressive the skipjacks were. The bait on the electric reel was intercepted before it even had a chance to sink to the target depth.

Seeing this, he quickly pressed the retrieval button. With the electric reel's powerful pull, it took only moments to bring a skipjack—slightly smaller than the last—to the surface.

Chu Mingcheng grabbed the gaff, hoisted the skipjack aboard, then hooked a sardine and continued fishing.

This time, there was no interception, and the bait reached target depth.

Seeing no immediate action, he picked up a dagger to bleed the fish, but before he could even crouch down, the rod started moving again.

The bite was so fast, he hadn't even had time to bleed the previous fish!

He went over and started reeling in, letting the rod do initial work while he quickly bled the two skipjack.

He opened the gills, severed the spine inside, and blood immediately began flowing.

Then Chu Mingcheng cut the tail, leaving only the bottom layer of flesh and skin attached. He pulled out the hose, stuck it directly into the fish's mouth, and aimed it at the severed spine to flush it with water.

Instantly, blood flowed from the fish's tail, and soon one fish was completely bled.

Then came the second one, but as he was halfway through flushing it, the third skipjack had already surfaced—he could hear its tail slapping the water.

The efficiency was astounding!

This was nearshore waters, after all, and a rare spectacle. After he'd been busy for an hour, the area revealed by the seabirds gradually attracted several more boats—two fishing boats and five fishing vessels.

Some were casting nets for sardines, while others, like him, were targeting skipjack. Everyone kept to themselves.

However, with other boats arriving, Chu Mingcheng also started using his binoculars periodically to check on the hooks and traps he'd set near the isolated island, ensuring no one was raiding his equipment.

Fortunately, everyone was drawn to the school here, and no one paid attention to the isolated island.

He didn't even have time for lunch. Chu Mingcheng stayed busy until nearly three in the afternoon, when the fish school finally began dispersing.

He could have pursued them, but there was no need.

The foredeck was already piled with skipjack, covered with ice, and a quilt.

The aft deck was no better. All the foam boxes had been brought out, filled with skipjack packed headfirst and covered with crushed ice.

He had a full load today, but the other boats that had found this school weren't doing badly either—each left fully loaded.

Chu Mingcheng went into the cockpit to wash his hands, grabbed a piece of bread, then took the helm and steered toward the isolated island to retrieve his gear.

He first hooked his foam floats with the gaff, put on gloves, and pulled up the fishing line. Feeling the movement in his hands, a smile spread across his face. A good harvest was always so satisfying!

From the fish's struggle strength, it should be substantial.

Using small, live mackerel as bait usually attracts groupers.

Sure enough, when he pulled the fish to the surface, a grouper with a bulging belly emerged. It was a green grouper—a very desirable species.

But it was quite large, about ten jin.

He scooped it up with the landing net, removed the hook, and threw it into the livewell.

At this depth, there was no need to vent the fish.

Next was the second float, but unfortunately, the line came up light—clearly no fish.

When he pulled the entire line up, he found it wasn't that there was no fish, but that the line had been severed.

Nothing could be done about it. He'd spent the whole afternoon fishing for skipjack, so too much time had passed here.

Normally, he'd check every hour, or even every half hour.

The third and fourth floats were empty, but the fifth brought another surprise—and it was still very heavy.

This was inevitable. The bait was so large that smaller fish with smaller mouths couldn't swallow it.

When a black, bream-like fish was pulled up, Chu Mingcheng immediately cursed: "Damn, such a huge black rockfish?"

Small black rockfish could sell for five hundred a jin. This one was at least ten jin—wouldn't it be even more valuable?

A real treasure!

Chu Mingcheng carefully netted the fish, and after lifting it onto deck, examined it closely. Seeing it was very lively, he breathed a sigh of relief.

A black rockfish this large was extremely rare. In terms of value, it rivaled a ten-jin-plus sea red grouper.

He placed it in the livewell. Even if these ten floats only yielded these two fish, it would've been worthwhile.

However, the harvest was naturally greater than that. He subsequently pulled up two seven-to-eight-jin painted sweetlips and a ten-jin-plus red snapper.

These fish all had large mouths. The painted sweetlips had even mangled the bait before finally getting hooked.

Finally, Chu Mingcheng retrieved his crab and shrimp traps.

The shrimp traps only contained a few small white shrimp and small mantis shrimp. The crab traps also had some mantis shrimp, but fortunately, he'd caught some swimming crabs.

And there were two large mud crabs. To catch two mud crabs, which weren't usually active in the afternoon, suggested the crab traps were a good investment.

He inspected the crabs, released the small and scrawny ones, keeping only five.

He started the boat back to port. When he had a signal, Chu Mingcheng began selling fish in the group chat.

Skipjack was quite cheap, only about thirty yuan per jin at the market, suitable for sashimi. He didn't know if anyone would want it.

The response was quite good. A few group members bought some—seven people total.

They were the smallest he had, seven fish weighing just over one hundred thirty-three jin. After rounding down, it was exactly four thousand.

The black rockfish, weighing eleven jin five liang, was completely different from the skipjack.

The group chat erupted into a bidding war, with prices climbing higher and higher.

This was expected. An eleven-jin black rockfish would go straight to auction in Japan.

Unfortunately, this was China, so no matter how high the price went, it wouldn't be outrageous.

In the end, it was claimed by a customer from Wenshi for one thousand three hundred per jin, just fifty yuan short of fifteen thousand.

The remaining fish, Chu Mingcheng, was taken back to sell directly.

He'd sold seven small skipjacks, but under the quilt on the foredeck were all large fish—at least four hundred jin total.

Although skipjack was cheap, it had been bled promptly, and the sashimi quality was quite good.

Some unscrupulous merchants even passed it off as tuna, which showed its quality.

Chu Mingcheng first contacted the seafood restaurant manager, then, after consideration, tried contacting Xie Xiao to see if he was interested.

He immediately said he was coming, suggesting that sashimi sold well at his establishment.

When Chu Mingcheng returned to port, Xie Xiao had already arrived.

As soon as the boat docked, Xie Xiao skillfully opened the door and came aboard.

"Boss Chu, what's your price for these skipjack?"

"They've all been bled—thirty a jin."

"Any chance of a discount?"

"Depends on quantity. Buy a lot, I'll knock something off."

"My shop uses quite a bit of skipjack." Xie Xiao nodded, then began selecting fish.

To Chu Mingcheng's surprise, he chose six large skipjacks this time.

Chu Mingcheng had specifically targeted large skipjack today, so he had six over thirty jin, and Xie Xiao picked them all.

These were indeed the fattest and best-looking, with the largest reaching forty jin.

The largest skipjack was only a meter long and weighed at most sixty jin.

A forty-jin skipjack wasn't easy to catch—the electric reel just made it look effortless.

If he'd fought it manually, one fish would have drained most of his stamina and taken ages to land.

However, most skipjacks weighed between ten and twenty jin; such large ones weren't common in nearshore waters.

The six skipjacks totaled two hundred twenty-one jin, for a price of six thousand six hundred thirty.

Since Xie Xiao had bought so many, Chu Mingcheng offered a discount, only charging six thousand.

Then he noticed Xie Xiao's mood lift considerably, and he moved the fish with great energy.

Chu Mingcheng shook his head with a smile. What an interesting character.

After he left with the fish, and Chu Mingcheng had prepared orders for the group chat customers, the seafood restaurant people arrived.

The remaining skipjacks were all taken by them, including the two painted sweetlips, one red snapper, and one green grouper from the livewell.

One hundred seventy-two jin of skipjack remained. Chu Mingcheng also gave them a discount, charging only five thousand.

The remaining four fish couldn't be discounted, selling for three thousand five hundred total.

Chu Mingcheng calculated his daily income and was surprised to find that the hundreds of jin of skipjack had sold for exactly fifteen thousand, the same as the black rockfish. Total income was thirty-three thousand five hundred yuan.

A single black rockfish had accounted for nearly half of today's earnings!

As for the five crabs, he didn't sell them yet—the quantity was too small, so he'd wait.

He used the boat's remaining water to clean the deck, simultaneously filled the water tank, and called a fuel truck for refueling.

After handling these tasks, he left the pier for the market to buy groceries, also purchasing crushed ice for the boat before finally heading home.

After dinner, he edited and provided voiceover for the afternoon's video with Jiang Luoluo, then accompanied her in the dance studio until ten at night before pretending to return to sleep.

But Chu Mingcheng didn't go to sleep after leaving her house. Instead, he secretly drove back to the pier.

That's right—he was going to pull an all-nighter at sea.

The twelve Life Conversion uses were just sitting there. He might as well use them to refresh himself through the night.

As long as he had Life Conversion, he could become a perpetual motion machine.

Tonight, Chu Mingcheng planned to see if he could find some deep-water fish.

After wandering the seas for so many days, he'd indeed found some deep-water areas—the deepest reaching over one hundred fifty meters. It was just that during the day, the fish finder hadn't shown many fish.

Also, shrimp and crabs were generally more active at night. If he sets the traps again tonight, the harvest should be better than during the day.

For trap placement, Chu Mingcheng chose the spot where he'd previously caught swimming crabs—also where he'd caught the huge tiger grouper.

At night, he didn't have to worry about someone spotting the floats and stealing the traps.

Soon, he arrived at his destination.

He first set the crab and shrimp traps where he'd caught large swimming crabs before. The bait inside was frozen mackerel cut into pieces.

Then, thinking he'd encountered fish here previously, he used the small shrimp caught that afternoon as bait and deployed the ten floated lines into the water one by one.

After this, he started the boat and departed, searching for a suitable fishing spot.

He hadn't planned on spearfishing today. The nighttime weather was cold. Although he'd feel comfortable in the sea, climbing back onto the boat each time would be torture.

Wearing more clothes, a hat, and a face mask on the boat wouldn't be so bad.

Then he monitored the fish finder, constantly searching for suitable deep-water fishing spots, but the feedback wasn't very promising.

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng decided to check the other side of the isolated island—an area he hadn't yet explored.

But as he approached the isolated island, he saw a strong reaction on the fish finder. There was a fish school active nearby!

Seeing this, Chu Mingcheng was overjoyed and quickly steered toward the signal.

When he arrived, he was surprised to find himself near the isolated island.

He observed the current and realized he'd reached the island's leeward side. A fish school was stationed here tonight.